EIB should increase its focus on energy efficiency and renewables at local level

Energy Cities contributed to the public consultation on approach of the European Investment Bank to Climate Action.

The consultation was launched as part of the EIB’s desire to include the civil society more in its policy-making process. It proposed to provide inputs on different aspects of the Bank’s strategy on climate action such as its lending criteria, its product portfolio or the usefulness of technical assistance mechanisms in fostering climate action.

This public consultation is a great initiative from the EIB’s share. Indeed, it is very positive to see that the biggest multilateral financial authority is opening itself to inputs from the local level, and does not stay circumcised to exchanging with Member States.

Energy Cities’ contribution to the consultation is notably based on the idea that the European Investment Bank should increase its focus on energy efficiency and renewable energy actions at the local level. We for instance called on the Bank to extend its product portfolio to mechanisms for aggregating smaller projects to put them at the scale the EIB usually operates at. We called on the EIB to develop a holistic approach to climate action (considering its whole range of products), and to plan its investment according to the long term prospect of a 2°C economy.